Yes, it's true. Kelvin Cato DOES have plenty of heart. I think the downside of Hakeem's six weeks absence is the upside of Kelvin Cato's emergence as a power in the NBA. Last night he was awesome, and played under control, for the most part. He was also star of the game, IMO. Stevie Francis, of course, and his increasing ability to dish the rock, is the critical difference. Now let's see if Cattino and Drew can set him up as well as Francis is learning to. And what about a back center ? I say we need that piece now ! Hamilton IS NOT an answer. [This message has been edited by jscmedia (edited December 02, 1999).]
OK, Ok, so I get alittle excited when I write on line. Sue me....edited for your reading pleasure....
Great! We haven't been praising Cato enough. He was awesome last night. I hope he can be consistently awesome, and I think he can. We will see. I like Hamilton but haven't seen enough of him yet. I think he has done well the little time he has played. And he is huge! Could be important against Shaq and other big centers. Would be nice to get Ervin Johnson as a backup center and keep Hamilton and get Sam Mack and Derek Harper. Anyone know what we might have to give up to get them? Sorry I don't have answers just questions.
Cato is playing great ! The thing w/Cato is that he just needs the chance to earn the money he is being paid..... if given the chance we will see we got a bargain!!!!!!!
Good point! Cato played 2 good games in a row, but he didn't grabbed as many rebounds as we expected from an average center. He played, I would say, fabulous in the Phoenix game, but grabbed only 6 rebounds. And as you said, 2 last night. As Calvin Murphy said all night, Cato just couldn't get a rebound. Was it because Clippers' players were averagely bigger? Dunno why?!?!
cato looked slow on the defensive end most of the night (a large amount of clipper dunks)...hopefully(?) it was due to fatigue and his sore ankles and not an indication of anything else...i believe it was the first game he had a lack of rebounds, so maybe it was just an abberration
Cato is used to playing with Sabonis, Wallace, and Grant. Sabonis, especially, rebounded, but did not have the foot-speed to fill the lanes on the break. Cato would have to work extra hard to rebound, outlet the ball, and fill the lanes. When you have Francis leading the break, by the time you catch up to the play, they're on their way back down the court.
U Blue, those are very good points, but I think there are two others that have a greater impact right now. 1) His ankles ARE BOTH sore. He needs to heal a little. It probably hurts more than he'll say to jump. 2)He is a shot blocker, many times when he lungs for the block, he is not in position to rebound. ( He's not Hakeem, and will never be THAT quality a player, IMO. That's fine, his game is great for his skills. I think th erebounding skills will come with more time and coaching. )
The thing I love about Cato is. That ppl are scared of him. He jumps up and makes the player who is shooting distracted and they miss.
